The reigning Bundesliga champions impressed in the group stages against Real Madrid, Manchester City and Ajax, and Schmelzer is keen to keep up their good form in the round of 16.

"In the Champions League Shakhtar Donetsk may not have been our first-choice opponents, but we’ll do all we can in both the games to get past them," the left-back said to the official Bundesliga website.

"We've been in good form so far in the tournament and don’t want to spoil the good work against Donetsk."

The Germany international then went on to discuss BVB's Bundesliga ambitions, and admitted that they might have to settle for second place.

"Our aim in the Bundesliga is to get back into second place and to stay there.

"Bayern have a 12-point head start and we’ve seen how they performed in the first half of the season. And ahead of the restart they've already been reminded of the need to maintain their focus. They’ll do all they can to stay at the top.

"Like I said, second place is our priority, if we manage that we'll be satisfied."

Dortmund currently sit third in the league table with 30 points from 17 games.